Intermountain Gas Co. is asking the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to approve an increased hook-up fee for new natural gas customers in the northern portion of the Wood River Valley.
The new hook-up fee, applied to customers north of Gimlet subdivision, would be instituted to pay for a $640,000 upgrade to the Sun Valley Lateral segment of the natural gas pipeline that would allow for increased operating pressure.
Intermountain Gas has claimed since last year that the pipeline leading to Sun Valley and Ketchum, which starts just south of St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center, is at capacity and will not be enough to handle growth if a number of large-scale projects are built in the area.
According to a press release from the utilities commission, if the new fee is approved, it would only be applied to customers that exceed Intermountain Gas' average peak-day demand of 15.5 therms per day.
A therm is equal to 100,000 BTUs and is the energy equivalent to burning about 100 cubic feet of natural gas.
The fee would be calculated by the amount of each new customer's peak-day consumption needs, multiplying every therm over the 15.5 therm per day benchmark by $40. This charge-per-therm method will pay for an additional 16,000 therms of distribution capacity to the pipeline.
According to the commission's release, Intermountain Gas stated that customers subject to the proposed hook-up fee would be the same ones causing the need for, and directly benefiting from, the distribution upgrade. The company said its earnings would not increase with the increased hook-up fee.
Intermountain Gas requested that the new fee be implemented by July 15, but the commission postponed the effective date for up to six months to investigate the issue.
The commission is welcoming comments via e-mail, accessed at the website www.puc.idaho.gov. Anyone wishing to comment should fill in the case number INT-G-09-01 in the "Questions and Comments" section. Comments can also be mailed to Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
